BEST BIRD-WATCHING
Wellfleet Bay Beach at the Welfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary is accessible only via sanctuary trails. Start from the nature center in South Wellfleet, and a chorus of chirping birds will greet you: familiar ones like red-winged blackbirds and more unusual species such as rufous-sided towhees, if you're lucky. Explore the marsh trails, and you'll wind up on the beach; there's no swimming, but you won't have time for it anyway as you look for the more than 200 species the Massachusetts Audubon Society, which owns and maintains the property, has cataloged.
Portions of beaches at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island in Newburyport are opened and closed according to the schedules of nesting birds, not the human beings who also appreciate the miles of prime oceanfront. But the beach near parking lot 1 is open all summer long, and the thickets, mud flats, and marsh areas of the refuge are excellent for spotting black-bellied plovers, short-billed dowitchers, and colorful warblers. From mid-July to early August, watch out for biting greenhead flies.
BEST SMALL BEACH
At the western end of the westernmost town in Rhode Island -- Westerly -- is a village called Watch Hill. More subdued and far less crowded than Misquamicut State Beach a mere 2 miles away, Watch Hill Beach mostly attracts regulars who have summer homes in the tony Victorian neighborhood. If you really want to get away from it all, take the coastal walk to Napatree Point, where shorebirds, even the threatened piping plover, can outnumber beachcombers. Parking at the beach is resident-only, so look for a private lot or a street spot in Watch Hill.
BEST WAVES
